The Incomparable Recruiter’s Guide to Self-Development

“I want to be the best”

What does that mean to you? Are you wanting to be better than everyone else? Or are you just wanting to be the best YOU can be? Now if I’m being quite honest, it’s very unlikely you will become the best out of everyone in the whole world, there will usually be at least one person out of the 7 billion people on this planet that will be better than you at something or other. But being the best version of yourself is something which holds so much more value than just being the best in the world at one thing.

Self-Development is the tool to help you unlock your true potential as a recruitment consultant. Don’t compare your success to that of others, whether that is an upward or downward comparison.

“Comparison is the root cause of all evil. Why compare when no two people are alike?” ― Haresh Sippy

One way of succeeding in becoming the best version of yourself is through personal development. Within this blog, I will discuss the behaviours associated with becoming a successful recruitment consultant, and the activities you can routinely perform which can reinforce the establishment of these behaviours.

Remember – everyone is unique in their own respect, so while I may be giving advice, I aim to provide you with the wisdom of planning your own steps on how you can be the best recruiter you can possibly be.

Behaviours need reinforcing activities for true self-development…

We can look at personal development from two perspectives: Behavioural traits and reinforcing activities. Behavioural traits are something which is unique to you, these are intrinsically associated with your identity and personality. Reinforcing activities are the things we do to strengthen our identity and behavioural traits.

As humans, we tend to have habits which reinforce our behaviours – for example, someone who identifies as an athlete will habitually go to the gym every day. Our lives are full of behaviours which we naturally associate with our identity, and our activities are our evidence as to why we have a certain identity. True change will derive when we are willing to either gain new behaviours, or willing to lose the counteractive ones. It’s a case of knowing which behaviours are most valuable to you and your goals in life.

What are desirable behaviours?

As a recruitment consultant, it’s important you practice behavioural traits which are essential to being a great recruiter, and reinforce this behaviour through turning activities into habits which naturally become a part of your day-to-day life. The first step is to recognise which behaviours you already have, and which ones you need to learn. The following is a list of “desirable” qualities I believe make a successful recruitment consultant (not in order of priority):

• Organisation
• Trustfulness
• Consistency
• Learning abilities
• Networking skills
• Self-awareness
• Professionalism
• Communication

While you can probably think of more skills which make a person a great recruitment consultant, these are the top qualities for me. So, it might be worth writing a list of what behavioural qualities that you think make an excellent consultant – it’s important to remember that this is to be the best YOU can be, thus, it’s entirely subjective depending on your own perspective.

What activities are important?

Now, when you have written your list, identify which qualities you already think you have, and support this with activities you habitually carry out. For example, I can say that I am a learner because I read entrepreneurial autobiographies every day before I go to sleep. This is an activity which I believe can help me build the best business possible through learning what successful people have done before me.

To be more thorough, we can look at the different activities related to these behaviours one must regularly engage in to be the best consultant they can be:

• Know the market– consultants who have researched and fully understood their particular market tend to be the most successful, where they can confidently converse with clients and candidates about all aspects of their industry. This boosts a consultant’s credibility and therefore builds trust in the business relationship as confidence in the recruiter’s ability is exceptional. Understanding the market not only reinforces trust, but also promotes your networking capabilities, organisational skills and learning abilities. Take time to thoroughly research the market – it will pay off!

• Embrace Technology – while it may be a struggle to completely transform from your traditional recruitment methods, you must open your mind to new technologies which can make your life much easier. A recent increase in video technologies and social media recruitment to help with interviewing, meetings and information gathering has proven to increase efficiency. This can then give you more time to allocate other precious activities which hold value to you. Allowing technology to become a normal part of your day-to-day recruitment can then help you adopt an open-minded, learning approach to work, where the tech can help you become more organised and enable you to network more frequently, while also being more efficient with your time.

• Take time to prepare– it’s important you prepare for meetings, briefs and interviews with a thorough plan. A strategy for how you will approach any interaction is valuable, and shows the other person you have covered all ground to really help them with their situation. You can become more self-aware through reflecting on previous meetings, and use this reflection to help you prepare for future ones. Not only does this promote your self-awareness, but also helps you develop your organisational skills, professionalism and consistency.

• Ask probing questions– make sure that when you’re interviewing a candidate or meeting with a client, you ask open-ended questions to try and get as much information as possible. Start your questions with what, how, why, and where. Be challenging with your questions where it encourages the receiver to think about their answer, this way you’re more likely to get honest answers with plenty of valuable information. Listen attentively to the answers given. This is favourable if you’re looking to become more of a learner, with effective communication skills. It can also promote trust where others are more likely to be open with you. To enable this, you should thoroughly prepare for any meeting (as previously mentioned).

• Be attentive, not pushy– as a recruitment consultant, it can be easy to fall into the trap of feeling like a pest when continuously getting in touch with candidates and clients. While you may occasionally get pressure from management or company culture to actively take part in business development or candidate calls, it’s important you keep a good balance to not irritate the recipient. It’s great to remain in touch with these individuals, but don’t go over the top. Be friendly, call when you have a great job available or brilliant candidate looking for work – not just for the sake of trying to book a meeting/interview because you have quotas to meet. When you’re the bearer of good relevant news, the candidate or client will be much more receptive and inclined to take your calls the next time. This activity is likely to build trust, promote great communication skills and make you self-aware of how you convey yourself to others. Arguably, we can say that it may make you come across as more professional.

• Return calls and emails on the same day – a hard thing to do with limited time? Maybe. If you effectively allocate your time and prioritise tasks, then returning calls and emails on the same day is something you’ll be able to do effortlessly. This shows people that you genuinely care about your business relationship, and that you will help them in a timely manner. While from your perspective you have hundreds of other people to deal with, from their perspective it’s you and only you. Don’t ruin that relationship – they could be the difference between you billing £30,000 or £40,000 that year! To do this, remember to plan your schedule at least once a week to ensure you have an allocated time of the day to get back to these people. This encourages trust, communication and consistency through utilising skills of organisation.

As you can probably notice, trust is a common theme in almost all activities carried out in recruitment. Recruiters occasionally receive negative stigma, and are typically put down to the bottom of the heap along with tax collectors and parking ticket officers. Building a trusting relationship is our biggest weapon to break the stigma around being a recruitment consultant. If you show your candidates or clients that you genuinely care, and that you are honest, then actively engaging in the activities mentioned above can help you do that.

Make it a habit to write a plan before every meeting. Make it a habit to get back to all of your missed calls/emails between 4pm and 5pm every day. Make it a habit to integrate technology with your current activities. Most importantly, make it a habit to engage in activities which you believe can make you the best you can be.

I can discuss different activities for days on end; however, the SEO for this blog disagrees that I should keep on going so not to bore you too much. Nevertheless, these are just a few of my reinforcing activities which I believe can help you adopt the behavioural attributes of a great recruitment consultant. Give it a try yourself and see if you can come up with more!

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